Mr. Nick Ashmore:

The agriculture cashflow support loan scheme represents a strong effort, working with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and capitalising on the use of the exceptional aid that was provided by the Commission, the state aid window that opened, as well as the EIF and the COSME programme, to craft a properly structured instrument that addressed the specific market failure. As we look at that and at different market failures, we look to take the same approach, which is to look at the options available for funding and market measure, to customise that measure accordingly to fit those criteria and to mix and match that support to create an instrument that works for that specific market failure. In the instance of a cashflow challenge to businesses - and some elements of Brexit may involve cashflow challenges - we could look at doing a shorter-term loan but with a risk share and potentially a small subsidy, depending on the resources available, to craft a risk-sharing product that would provide easier-to-access, more cost-effective and maybe more flexible loans for that specific issue.

On the other side of the coin, there might be an effort to support investment. As well as its COSME programme, the EIF has a programme called InnovFin. That provides an uncapped counter-guarantee to the SBCI or an uncapped guarantee directly to banks. Bank of Ireland has one of these facilities. We might use that resource, some of our own capital, State resources and, potentially, structural funds as well down the line, to create a longer-term product that might support loans for five to ten years by taking a greater share of the risk. The agriculture cashflow support loan scheme was a capped portfolio guarantee. It was only the first 15% of losses that were covered. An uncapped guarantee would see all the loans in a portfolio covered. It is about trying to take the resources available, working with the constraints they come with and mixing and matching them together to get the right combination to create a solution to the problem. We see the agriculture cashflow support loan scheme as the real precedent for us to be able to do this down the line as issues arise.